Rotary bin



April 26, 1938. M. REDLINGER ROTARY BIN Filed July 1, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet l MICHAEL REDL/NGER g/m Yf/VTOR ATTORNEY M. REDLINGER ROTARY BIN April 26, 1938.

Filed July 1, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 M lcH/i EL REDL/NGER.

//V Vf/YTOR ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 26, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ROTARY BIN Michael Redlinger, Portland, Oreg. it mica-tum 1, 1935, 'SerialNo. 29,307

14 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in ro-' tary bins, and has particular reference to novel means for operating said bins to distribute fruit to be packed for shipment.

The subject matter of the invention pertains to certain modifications and improvements in the construction of rotatable fruit dispensing bins of the type which ordinarily include a rotatable bin and a rotatable tray concentric therewith, the tray being arranged for axial movement within the bin and responsive tothe weight of fruit or other articles deposited thereon.

Heretofore rotary bins have had their fruit receiving trays disposed in a horizontal plane for rotation about a vertical axis, for the reason that if one side of the bin filled more rapidly than another the uneven distribution of weight upon the tray would cause binding of the supporting hearings or other parts so as'to prevent depression of the tray. The maintenance of the bins in a horizontal plane has made necessary the provision of delivery ramps or other fruit delivery means intermediate the grading apparatus and the bin to insure safe delivery of the fruit to the bin. Moreover, in these structures, the bin bottom or tray and the bin proper have been arranged for unitary ro-tative movement, and the rotation of the tray has been conjoint with the rotation of the entireebin structure.

An important feature of the present invention resides in the provision of an adjustable mechanism for tilting the bin so as to position the fruit receiving tray on an angle to the horizontal. By utilizing such construction the bin may be tilted sufiiciently to permit fruit to be discharged from a grading apparatus directly into the bin without damage to the fruit, and without the interposition of additional fruit handling equipment, while at the same time presenting the fruit within convenient reach of the packers. Moreover, the present invention utilizes mechanism adapted to prevent binding of supporting bearings or other parts in the event of uneven distribution of weight upon the tray so as to permit unhampered axial movement of the tray within the bin. A further characteristic of the present invention resides in the fact that the tray is rotatable independently of the rotation of the bin. It often happens, in

grading a quantity of fruit, that the proportionsv delivered to the several bins will vary from time to time, as one size or another preponderates. In apparatus embodying the present invention the driving force may be diverted from bins which receive small amounts of fruit, the tray alone being rotatable under the impetus of small amounts of fruit delivered thereto to pass the fruit before the packers.

It is, therefore, a primary object of the invention to provide apparatus which will greatly facilitate the delivery of fruit to be packed for ship- 5 ment.

A further object of the invention isto provide mechanism which will permit relative rotation of a rotary bin and the fruit receiving tray therewithin. a

A further object of the invention is to provide mechanism for operatively positioning a rotary bin on an angle to the horizontal.

A' further'object of the invention is toprovide apparatus'of the character described which will prevent abrading or pinching of fruit delivered thereto. i

A further object of the invention is to provide apparatus of the character described which is simple, compact and sturdy in design, and which is inexpensive to build and operate.

Additional objects and advantages will become apparent as the description proceeds in connection with the accompanying drawings, it being understood that the drawings are illustrative only and that various changes and modifications may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention; and I deem myself entitled to all such changes and modifications as fall withinth'e scope of the claims hereto appended.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a vertical cross section of an apparatus embodying my invention, including a representation of the bin disposed at an angle to the horizontal.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary side elevation of the supporting framework illustrating the tilting lranechanism and the mechanism for driving the 40 Figure 3 is a sectional end elevation of the supporting framework, particularly emphasizing the construction of the tilting mechanism. I

Figure 4 is atop plan view of the device illustrated in Figure 1, certain portions being omitted or broken away to illustrate the tray centering means.

Figure 5 is a bottom plan view of the rotatable tray in normal position at the top-of the bin.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary view of the bottom of the tray," illustrating the position of the tray centering means when the tray is at the top of the bin.

Figure 7 is the same as Figure 6, except that the tray has been depressed to approximately midway of'the bin. 4 V

Figure 5. illustrates the position of the tray fcentering means when the tray is completely depressed to the bottom of the bin;

Figure 9 is a sectional detail, taken along the line 9- 9 of 'FigureL a a V 7 7 V The structure thus illustrated comprisesa supportingimme I, an upwardly projecting hollow 7 shaft 2, rot'atably supported, upon the frame.v I

by means of a hub 3, a thrust bearing '4; anda thrust-of said shaft 2;

collar 5, the collar being pinned to the shaft at 6 A second hub] is dis'posed about said shaft 2 at the' top {of said frame I,;and an anti f riction to carrythe side bearing 8. is recessed therein As bestfillustrated in and 9, respectively, secured to the frame I; Bolts to, are disposed transverselythrough thei upstanding flanges of said angle iron members!) and;

9 to maintainsaid hubs in place. Referringto' Figuresyl and =3, it willzbe noted that thecross 'rnemberstflatthe base of .the'framej l-. are provided fwith a plurality of holes .H for the reception. of.

the bolts ID. This .is to permit'lateralpla cement I 01f;the 11111153 and associated bearingv 4.110: incline thefshaft 2 at an angle to V the vertical, the. hub. 1:;-

at'the top of the frame rocking to one side, as iin- Figure 3, without lateral movement; By this expedient, the bin'may betilted tofeither'side, as

desired, to position its working plane at an angle to the horizontal; 'asillustrated .in broken lines I: in liligurel..,,.

Affixed to J the shaft? 2, so :as to be rotatable therewith, is a'seat IZ upon which restsacircular bin comprising ahorizontal circular frame I3 and a peripheral'wall 'l4,"said. wall being taperedwhereby the lowerportionv of said binis of less diameter than. its upper portion. "Telescopically engaging .the'shaftl, so:v as to he slidablyand rotatably movable. therewithin, is a. re tatable shaft l5 disposed concentrically. ofsaid 1 bin The upper end ofthe shaft supports a seat l6 upon which rests. a; rotatable tray '|.1'

, whichforms the bin bottom; In order to insure 1 that the contents of the binwilln'ot overflow in.

case fruit is; deposited therein faster than it is removed-therefrom, and. also for. the purpose of presenting the fruit at a'constant level, the bin: bottom I! is vertically yieldable; This is accomplished by meanseof a helical compression spring I la'surrounding' the shaft I5 and bearing on the. circular frame l3. to, form a yieldable support for an anti-friction bearing l9 recessedi in the .seat.

' 16. The lower half of; the raceway for this bear- 7 ing receives the upper end of the helical'spring I8 andis intended to remain stationary, whereas the upper half of theraceway is recessed in the.

seatmember l6 and is rotatable therewith. a

. Extendingradially from the seat l6;to the outer I edgesof thetray I1 is a spider 20, attheouter ends of whichlare disposed afplurality of 'rollable members 21; 'I'heseare secured tolever arms 22, each of whichfare fulcrurned as at 23,."andth'e rollable members 2] maintained in position. to

exert pressure against the wall. Id of the'biii by means of a spring'24 securedto the spider arm I and having its opposite endattachedto the lever arm 22." A stop iis provided for engagement with the inner edge of eachrlever arm 22' to limit itsmovement and to maintain the rollable members 2| a uniform distance from the periphery'of the, bin, bottom 1.1 .so as to center said bottom 7 Figures zahd"sj'eaehor the hubs 3 and ,1 is rockably supportedupon. the horizontal fiangesof angle iron cross members 9 with relation to the wall M. It will be not d that the resilient support for the bin bottom, as well as mechanism insuring its rotation relative to said bin, is disposed entirely therebeneath, without any 1. n l 75 or bin bottom to hinder the packer when he post or projection rof any kind above the tray reaches for fruit upon thejtray;

Arranged peripherall" of the closely spaced, flexible fingers 26. jThese aresecured totheinversely beveled edge of the binbot tom and serve as an extension of the bottom to bin bottom ll are prevent fruit being pinched between the bottom V and the'wall of the bin.

It will be notedthat .whenthe bin is empty relationito saidowall and concentric therewith; 1

'InJFigures 6, flyand: 8 of theidrawings is illus-' trated.the.:relative;p ositions'of thebin bottom and Wall, and'ithemanner of operation of the spring controlled centering 'devicewh'en the'bin bottom is disposedaat'thetop' of'th'e bin-.(Figure'6') or isdepressed'to approximately midway of th'ebin, (Figural); or. is under'full load at the-bottom of the *ibinfiFigure 8). .By this construction, in-

' equalities inthedistribution'of weight on the tray or::binbottom do not interfere either withthe' axialmovement of thebottomor with its rotation.

IrrFigure 1.is illustrated an auxiliary c'ompres sion-spring1|8 positionedwithin and concentricallyof the spring l8 and also surrounding the shaft l5; :Thisspring, which is of shorter length than'theispring: I8, is intended to @oper'atively en- ,gage the bin bottom II'toincrease the resistance exerted: by'the bin bottom against the'weight cffarticles deposited thereon when said bottom shall have been-'depressed-a predetermined extent.

The purpose of the tapered'wa-ll isto prevent abrading of -"the fruit by rolling or crushing it between the bin-bottom l1 and the'wall 14} as H the bottom: rises'when fruit is removed from the bin. It has been found that in the operation of binsof uniform diameterthe upward movement" of the binbottom, combined with the pressure of n the fruit in the bin, causes those'pieces offruit:

next to the bin wall to be skidded upwardly along the Wallso as to materially damage them; Applica'nt'has discovered -that by:tapering the wall of the'bin soas to progressively enlarge its diam-. eter toward the'top the bin wall recedes from thosepiecesof fruit nextto the wall as the bin bottom is forced upwardly, so as to materially reduce friction betweenfthe wall' and: the fruit.

Moreover; asthe bin bottom is depressed and the intervening spaceibetween'the periphery of the bottom 'andftlie wallis: correspondingly lessened; the flexible fingers 26 tend'to creep upwardly along'the-wall to fkeep 'the fruit away from the point of contact between the binbottom andthe wall, 'so t'hat brushing of fruit. at this point is prevented.

The driving mechanism for rotating the bin includes a vertical shaft 2l-rotatab1y jou'rn'alled inbe'arings 28in the framework 1' and projecting upwardly to a point contiguous to the outer periphery of the bin wall I4. Disposed at the top of said shaft is a friction wheel 29 for engaging the peripheral wall of the bin. Power to rotate the bin may be transmitted from any suitable source to the pulley 30, the driven friction wheel 29 being held in operative engagement with the bin wall by means of the tension spring 3|.

In operation, the structure disclosed may be inclined so as to presentits working plane at an angle to the horizontal. 'I'hisis accomplished by moving the hub 3 laterally of the framework I, thus disposing the hub 1 at an angle to support its load on one of its rounded faces. livered to the bin in any desirable manner, it being intended, however, that the higher edge of the tilted bin may be placed in juxtaposition to the delivery ramp of a fruit grader so as to permit the fruit to be delivered directly to the bin from the grading apparatus without the interposition of additional fruit handling apparatus.

The fact that the tray or bin bottom is mounted for rotation independently of the bin wall has the advantage that the packers may, if desired, hasten or retard the rotation of the tray without interrupting rotation of the bin, as may prove desirable when but a small amount of fruit is being delivered to a particular bin. Moreover, in such case, the driving force for rotating the bin may be diverted to other uses, the freely floating tray being rotatable under the impetus of small amounts of fruit delivered thereto to pass such fruit before the packers.

Having now described my invention and in what manner the same may be used, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. A rotatable bin having a depressible bottom and a peripheral tapered Wall concentric therewith, whereby the lower portion of the bin is of less diameter than its upper portion, means mounting said bottom for axial movement within said bin, and a plurality of flexible tabs arranged peripherally of said bottom and designed to lie against said peripheral wall.

2. A rotatable bin having a depressible bottom and a peripheral wall concentric therewith, means mounting said bottom for axial movement within said bin, and spring controlled means to maintain said bottom in horizontally spaced relation to said wall.

3. A rotatable bin having a depressible bottom and a peripheral Wall, means mounting said bottom for axial movement within said bin, and spring controlled rollable means to maintain the bottom in spaced relation to said wall and concentric therewith.

4. A rotatable bin having a depressible bottom and a peripheral, tapered wall, whereby the lower portion of said bin is of less diameter than its upper portion, means mounting said bottom for axial movement within said bin, and flexible means arranged peripherally of said bottom to form an extension of said bottom to said wall.

5. A rotatable bin having a depressible bottom and a peripheral wall concentric therewith, resilient means mounting said bottom for axial movement within said bin, said means including auxiliary means to increase the resistance exerted Fruit is de-' by said bottom in proportion to the weight of articles deposited thereon.

6. A rotatable bin having a peripheral wall, a hollow vertical shaft for supporting said bin, a tray disposed within said bin and concentric with said wall, a shaft for supporting said tray, said tray supporting shaft slidably and rotatably engaging said first named shaft.

7. A rotatable bin having a peripheral wall, a tray disposed within said bin and concentric with said wall, means mounting said tray for axial movement within said bin, and rollable means disposed peripherally of said tray for'engaging the Wall of said bin as the tray is depressed to main: tain the tray in uniformly spaced relation to the wall.

8. A rotatable bin having a peripheral wall, a

tray disposed Within said bin and concentric with said wall, a resilient support for said tray positioned therebeneath, and an anti-friction bearing disposed between said support and said tray.

9. A rotatable bin having a peripheral wall, a tray disposed within said bin and concentric with said Wall, and resilientmeans rotatably supporting said tray, said tray rotatably engaging said means for rotation independently of the rotation of said bin. 4

10. In an apparatus of the character described,

a frame, a circular bin, a vertical shaft for sup-' porting said bin rotatably supported upon said frame, a pair of spaced hubs for said shaft, one of said hubs being movable laterally of said frame to incline said shaft at an angle to the vertical so as. to position said bin with its working plane at an angle to the horizontal.

11. In an apparatus of the character described, a frame, a circular bin, a vertical shaft for supporting said bin, spaced bearings rotatably supporting said shaft, one of said bearings being movable laterally of said frame to incline said shaft at an angle to the vertical so as to position said bin with its working plane at an angle to-the horizontal.

12. An apparatus of the character described, comprising a frame, a circular bin, a hollow shaft rotatably mounting said frame for supporting said bin, a second shaft slidably and rotatably engaging said first named shaft, a circular tray disposed within said bin and secured to said second named shaft, a resilient support for said tray positioned therebeneath, and an anti-friction bearing disposed between said support and said tray.

13. An apparatus of the character described, comprising a frame, a circular bin, a hollow shaft rotatably supporting saidbin, a second shaft slidably and rotatably engaging said first named shaft, a circular tray disposed within said bin and secured to said second named shaft, and resilient means rotatably supporting said tray within said bin.

14. A rotatable bin having a peripheral wall, a tray disposed within saidbin and concentric with said wall, means mounting said tray for axial movement within said bin, said tray rotatably engaging said means for rotation independently of the rotation of said bin. 1

MICHAEL REDLINGER. 

